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[[stamp]] THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES [[/stamp

 Disposition to Labor
There are a few troublesome idle Freeman in these counties. who seem determined not to labor. if they can possibly avoid it. but as a class they all appear anxious and willing to labor. and I can safely state that with very few exceptions. the freedmen in these two counties are laboring hard and faithfully for their employers. to substantiate my assertion I would refer to the constant boasts of the planters that they expect to make as fine a crop this year as they ever made. 

As a general rule I find that where the freedmen are paid liberally and treated kindly. they fully meet the employers expectations of good hands. and as such laborers. the employers never have any complaint or difficulty. Some of these gentlemen have informed me that their hands. work more faithfully now than they did during their slavery.

Numbers of the freedmen through a want of a thorough understanding of their contract but mainly owing to the inducements held out to them by designing Whites, are leaving the plantations of their present employers and hiring themselves out again, to any party who may offer more wages than they have received at their old place. in such cases I invariably order the freedmen to return to his old employer who by right of contract has the best claim to his services.